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Waiting for Superman

"Nemo nascitur sapiens, sed fit" No one is born wise, instead he becomes wise- Seneca. Education is one of the most important factors in a person's life. Education is often the base for improvement on the quality of a person's life. We are always taught that we need to get a degree if we want to succeed and want to have a better future. As soon as we are born, we need teachers, we need to learn how to walk, how to eat, how to use different tools. Once we are old enough, we start a formal education. Teachers and the quality of education are very important from the first years we start learning. The first years of education develop a pre-knowledge base and establish learning habits for children. Those are the years that are crucial for the further education, college, and life. Unfortunately, education has been full of problems in past decades. The world has drastically changed, and the education can't adapt to the changes fast enough. The United States used to be known for one of the greatest public educational systems in the world, but in past years, the results have been on a devastating decline. "Waiting for Superman" is a movie that tells the story of problems in education; such as failure of students, drop outs around the country, and terrible results in math and reading test scores. It seems as if there are no solutions to the education issues that are plaguing the country, despite the many people who tried to fix the problems, but eventually don't succeed. I was educated outside of the United States, in Croatia, but I finished senior year of high school in New Jersey. I got to experience two completely different systems, but still noticed both have many problems. What surprised me the most was the fact the United States is one of the most powerful countries in the world, if not the most powerful one, and still education is a big problem. Bill Gates noted that in the future there will be working positions open requiring high education with great...

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...Brad Mitchell
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Waiting for ‘Superman’
The film "Waiting for Superman" follows five children as they have to struggle through a system of conflicting education regulations and avoid the academic pitfalls that are public schools in order to receive a proper education that may guarantee them a career. The film, directed by Davis Guggenheim, asserts the claim that Teachers' Unions are a main problem to public education, and that charter schools are the safest and most definite method to ensure that a student acquires a proper education. While the film was created with good intentions to improve the education of American students, it has been dismissed by most due to the film seeming to demonize Teachers’ Unions and overly-praising charter school systems.
Although public schools have indeed faltered since the 1970’s, it does not mean that private schools and charter schools are the go-to solution. The truth is, public school systems have been proven to perform just as well as, if not better than, the charter schools that the film seemingly praises as a definitive solution. An article from The Washington Post by Rick Ayers talks about a survey run by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, or CREDO, saying that it "concludes that only 17% of charter schools have better test scores than traditional public schools, 46% had gains that were no different than their public...

...﻿Vanessa Garcia
Professor Susan Auerbach
ELPS 203
15 December 2014
ELPS 203 Final Essay: “Waiting for Superman”
All through our lives teachers are an important factor in our education from the very first day we begin to learn how to walk and learn to count. In the film of “Waiting for Superman” directed by Davis Guggenheim, we are taken through the different ways that the public education system has failed students in urban schools. By interviewing reformers different ideas are brought to attention on how the public educational system can be improved. Guggenheim takes us through the lives of five different students, four of whom attend public schools, and one in a catholic school, that all attempt to leave the public school system behind. Experiencing the struggles of these students and their families, we learn how they are placed in a lottery system to be able to gain admission at a charter school. All with the same goal in common and dreams of a better education, students still have to rely solely on luck. The film later shows how four of the five students are turned away by the lottery.
This film appeared to stir up controversy in the state that Guggenheim promotes charter schools and blames the teachers for the educational failures. In the film, Guggenheim puts a huge role on charter schools and how they could be the solution to all the issues in the public school systems. In his eyes the reason why so many...

...﻿Jacob Craft
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EN-131
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If you had a child and lived in an undeveloped area with poor educational facilities would you not seek out the best alternatives available? Would you not go out and discover what opportunities offer the greatest chance for success and embrace every single one of them in an effort to give your child unlimited opportunities? In the film we viewed in class, we were shown unbelievable and also amazing scenarios where children and their parents were forced into similar situations as addressed above. All the parents and guardians of the children in the film would have answered yes to all and any questions similar to the ones prescribed above. They explored all the alternatives they could in desperate attempts to get their children the quality of education they believed they not only needed, but also deserved. The one unique thing about all these possible solutions is that they don’t seem to come from those demanding the proper results, the government. Instead the most promising solutions are coming from private foundations, innovative and motivated individuals, and persistent efforts.
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...﻿Waiting for SupermanWaiting for “Superman”, a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, illustrated the problems with modern day public education as well as solutions that have proven to be effective. He does this by interviewing five public school students and their families (four urban elementary school students and one suburban middle school student), Chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools Michelle Rhee, and the founders of two extremely successful charter school programs. Throughout the film, the challenges each student and his or her caregiver(s) face in order to receive a good education are documented. For example, a young girl growing up in a poor neighborhood of Los Angeles dreams of going to medical school. However, as Guggenheim tells us, by the time she reaches her neighborhood’s failing high school, she will be far behind her grade level and will have a slim chance of even graduating, let alone pursuing higher education. A young boy from Washington, D.C. also seemed destined for his poor neighborhood’s failing high school. A mother from Harlem struggles to pay her daughter’s tuition at a neighborhood parochial school, but she feels that it is worth the struggle as her neighborhood has very low performing public schools. A mother from the Bronx also has a difficult time when she is told that her son may need to be held back a year because of his weak reading skills, but she believes that he reads at the...

...proficiency, and 70 percent of eighth graders could not read at grade level. By 2020, only an estimated 50 million Americans will be qualified to fill 123 million highly skilled, highly paid jobs. These alarming reports led to controversial fact-checking and national concern and talk about the US public school system. Now the question is, What and Who are We Waiting for? Waiting for “Superman” almost vilifies teachers unions for promoting tenures and the US public school system for being outdated. Should we use Rhee’s idea and scorch the earth of teachers unions, or should we strive to amend and remove some legislation for more comprehensible public school policies and standards that transcend from federal government to local school boards? Something has to be done, but what we should not be doing is waiting. In order to handle this problem, we have to first acknowledge that there is a problem. Whether or not you believe the reported statistics, you must accept the fact that Horace Mann’s mantra, “Education is the great equalizer,” is now longer applicable. Studies have shown, other than the one cited in Waiting for “Superman“, that low-income disadvantaged students are not as prepared for college as their affluent peers. Students who attend public school in the United States are not only at a national disadvantage in regards to college admissions and the job market, but they are also at a...

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...﻿Brianna Schlupp
ENGL 102
Levin
1. A. What do you believe is the main argument presented in this documentary? B. Describe how at least one of the children’s personal stories illustrates his argument.
After watching this documentary I believe that the main argument is that our public school systems are failing. A great example from the documentary is Francisco. He is in a public school and his teacher told his mother he is at risk for repeated the grade because he can not read. But his mother strongly disagrees because she takes him to reading classes and the community college. Francisco’s reading teacher tells his mother he is on level. His mother tries to contact his teacher but receives no response. Francisco’s reading teacher told his mother to go above the teacher and go to the school district. I used this as an example because it is the teacher that does not care which is making the student fail because he isn’t getting the help he supposable needs.
2. A. Consider how the director uses special effects, distance from the subject, camera angles and point of view to persuade his audience of his message. B. Do the special effects, camera angles, the director’s point of view etc. contribute to emotional or ethical appeals in this documentary?
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...﻿Chelsea Tijerina
SOC 302
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Waiting for Superman
The movie Waiting for Superman is a documentary produced by Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott. The documentary sheds light on our public education system and its complexity, particularly its effect on parents and children. The documentary follows the lives of 4 children and their struggles, as well as their parent’s struggle, to enter them into a charter school. The overall message is that much like many other institutions, public education has its flaws but these flaws have massive effects on families and children.
One of the things that stood out to me from the very beginning was when the narrator stated “But I’m lucky. I have a choice. Other families pin their hopes to a bouncing ball…. because when there is a great public school, there aren’t enough spaces…” This statement carries a heavy message about the truth of our country and the harsh realities people don’t see. My mother was a public school teacher. She taught special education at an elementary school and helped students who had trouble learning. The struggles of being a teacher were no surprise to me because I watched my mother and sometimes helped her in the classroom. Since my mother had knowledge of the system, she did her best to steer me in the right direction. I never saw or learned about the internal workings of public education. All I ever saw was the tip of the iceberg, which is...